[Coral-List] RE: Age of clones

Szmant, Alina szmanta at uncw.edu
Fri Jan 20 15:13:23 EST 2006



Dear Dr. Stoddart:

Few coral species seem to use the asexual planula strategy, and even
those that have reported to do it are unlikely to use it all that often
(as population genetic studies have shown).  My answer was meant to be a
short generic answer and not a treatise to respond to every potential
caveat (this addresses also the comment about the accumulation of
mutations over time, which has been speculated about but not
demonstrated).

Kind regards,

Alina Szmant

*******************************************************************
Dr. Alina M. Szmant
Coral Reef Research Group
UNCW-Center for Marine Science 
5600 Marvin K. Moss Ln
Wilmington NC 28409
Tel: (910)962-2362 & Fax:  (910)962-2410
Cell:  (910)200-3913
email:  szmanta at uncw.edu
Web Page:  http://people.uncw.edu/szmanta
******************************************************************

-----Original Message-----
From: coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
[mailto:coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov] On Behalf Of MScience
P/L
Sent: Thursday, January 19, 2006 6:28 PM
To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
Subject: [Coral-List] RE: Age of clones

 

Alina

I'm sure there will be a number of replies pointing out that several
species
of coral also produce planulae asexually, such that clones can propagate
through planular dispersal & settlement.

Given the issue raised in clones like Dolly the sheep about aging
telomeres,
a more relevant measure of age of clones may by the number of mitotic
cell
divisions since meiosis.

Dr J. A. Stoddart
Assoc.Proj. Marine Science
MScience Pty Ltd
School of Plant Biology (M090)
University of Western Australia
Crawley WA 6009
Australia
ph:618 6488 2205 - fx:618 6488 1658
Email: jim at mscience.net.au. Web:www.mscience.net.au


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